Two killed by car bomb in southern Thailand, police say

MAP: Asia
A car bomb has killed at least two people and injured 36 outside a hotel in southern Thailand, police say.

This is the latest deadly attack in the area that has been plagued by separatist violence for the past decade.

Thailand is predominantly Buddhist but parts of the south, in particular the three provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, are majority Muslim and resistance to central government rule has existed in the regions for decades.

Police say the bomb was left in a vehicle about 50 metres from a hotel in the town of Betong, which is popular with tourists from nearby Malaysia.

At least one of the injured was Malaysian.

“This was the work of southern separatists – [it is the kind of work] which often happens during Ramadan,” district police chief Wasan Puangnoi told Reuters.

Last year, the authorities said an increase in attacks was a reaction to peace talks that had started a few months before but were shunned by some rebel groups.

Deep South Watch, a group that monitors the area, said on Thursday that 6,159 people had been killed and 14,329 suffered injuries in violence related to the low-level insurgency that flared up in 2004 after years of relative calm.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who has lead the military government in power in Thailand since May, warned security officials in the area to be vigilant during the remaining days of Ramadan.